Nike State Mascot Series 2

Three more for you, all done in the past day.

Death to the Block S

Pop quiz! What team does the above logo belong to?

Time's up, the correct answer is Stanford, Michigan State, and Syracuse

While there's nothing wrong with the logo, It's hard to believe this many teams got a patent.Anyways, I decided to create logos for those 3 teams revolving around the letter S and their team name.

Stanford's S sometimes has a nice little tree on it. So I decided to create a logo where they're together. I wanted to make a diamond shape, but realize that hey duplicating the top bit looks a lot like a tree. I connected the branches and added a trunk.

I started this concept MONTHS ago. The only progress I had was an MS alternating because I had another letter to play with. I played around with some stuff, and added a nose plate in the negative space of the S. This evolved into a Spartan helmet. The more I played with it, the more it evolved. It became an M-S-U logo,

 This one is an orange

Nike State Mascot Series

Last thanksgiving, I spent the wee hours of the morning coming up with a logo. The logo had been in my head for a few days, and it was a Virginia Tech logo of a turkey incorporating the shape of Virginia. Made it, got a couple of likes, and that was it. I saw it the other day and thought it was cool, so I tweeted it back out.

It was really well received and a few people told me I need to make more. That's what I did! I made the California one a few weeks ago, and the Tennessee one today. They feel like Nike shirts to me, so I'm calling this the Nike State Mascot Series

Feel free to suggest some if you have an idea!

Outback Bowl Alternate History

So it's bowl season! The best time of year for any football fans. There are too many bowl games, let me say that now. There's also a lot of corporate sponsorships that drown out the legacy of the game. Some are fine, such as the Valero Alamo Bowl. Then there are games, like the Belk Bowl, that have no history or indicator where the event takes place. The Belk Bowl could hypothetically take place in any city with a large enough football stadium, because it hardly gives you any indication that it's in Charlotte.

My home town bowl is the Outback Bowl. Outback Steakhouse is from Tampa, but generally people don't know that. The Outback Bowl just celebrated their 30th anniversary in Tampa. The game originally was the Hall of Fame Bowl, which was played at the Iron Bowl, and is a lame name.

So I rewrote bowl history.

So the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were real bad in their first few seasons. Though the team was new and exciting, they needed to build a fanbase. Former USC coach, and then Bucs coach John McKay pitched a bowl game to take place on New Years Day, when the Bucs stadium would (most likely) be empty. The game was accepted by the NCAA to be played January 1st, 1979. 

The Bucs owners became a part time bowl committee. To tie the game to the pro team, they decided on the "Treasure Bowl". The initials would be TB, and they could continue to sell the pirate theme. In addition to this, they had the city move the traditional Gasparilla Parade to New Years Day, in a smaller homage to the Rose Bowl Parade. They decided the best plan of action was to have a team from the Southeast, and a Big Ten team to draw the local fans who are near Florida, or may have moved there.

Michigan State and Florida State both finished 8-3 in the 1978 season, and were hand picked by the committee. The first game was won by Michigan State 23-17

The game became a success. With Florida, Florida State, and Miami becoming very good in the following decade, the bowl committee started the tradition of a Big Ten vs SEC game. In 1995, the hometown company Outback attached their name to the game.

Penn State would win 43-14 over Auburn.

The game soon moved to Raymond James, and the pirate ship really fit in the theme they were pushing. The community rallied around the game, and gave the city a true identity.

This year Tennessee and Northwestern faced off, with Tennessee rolling 45-6.

I love doing time-based concepts, and I tried my best to make the presentation seem like it really was made those years. I made the original logo, then figured the script was strong enough that I could change and still seem pretty modern.

From the Sox Drawer - Alabama State Hornets

There's so many logos I've done but haven't shared for whatever reason. I have been thinking that it would be really cool to show off some of the nicer ones to the public, because outside of tumblr, and the people I did them for, no one has seen these.

So last year around November, I got an email out of the blue. It was a guy who had played baseball at Alabama State. He was emailing me because he wanted me to put a logo package for ASU together because, well, they don't have a great identity. He wanted a few logos, a font, and some jerseys. I told him I was game because this was such a great opportunity.

In my head I wanted to do a cool, one color logo, like Texas or Kansas State. I figured that on yellow or black, the hornet's stripes could still have similar effects. But the black really didn't agree with me and I had to settle with an outline. I talked to our good friend Doug, who I see as a great mentor, and he was just saying how it wasn't working. I finally decided I should start again.

I loved the shape, but going forward it needed to be more realistic. Bold lines, correct anatomy, and multiple colors. So I took apart the shapes that made the previous look. I went one by one making shadows and highlights in addition to the small details. I added an eye, some legs, and Power Ranger looking thunder bolts to the tail. All of this resulted in one of my favorite logos I've ever done. I made an ASU monogram, and a full font for them. Then finally, I made a football uniform using the striping pattern.

But eventually I sent the whole thing to the guy(who was legit, I found him on their baseball roster), and he never got back. He wanted it around New Years and I think I got it done before then, but I still have this really nice logo that ASU is willing to buy from me!

Under Armour Football

So I was trying to find a football design cut that I made a long long time ago. I remembered exactly what I made it for, me redoing all of Under Armour's college teams. This was around the same time Nike was doing their Pro Combat series and template, so my thinking was a unified UA network of teams.

The thing is, I couldn't find any trace of this series on this blog. So here is a look at some old concepts that you may have never seen!

Big Ten Rebrands

Two Big Ten concepts, originally for a big project, but fell through.

Ohio State

Fun fact: Ohio State's logo is kind of a mess too. Too cluttered, not bold enough. I wanted to make the set bold and run with it. I made an O logo with a buck eye the primary. My goal was to make it not look like a pot leaf(it doesn't right?) I used black instead of a dark grey, like i originally wanted. Yeah, not too much else about this one!

Penn State

Have you seen their logo? It's not that great. Everyone wanted a rebrand after the whole Sandusky incident to start over. I saw a proposal to use an old logo with an S in a keystone. I thought it could be a pretty good alternate. The use of a keystone for Penn State made tons of sense. I used the logos they had early last decade, but modified it. I wanted a sleeker, meaner lion. A Nittany Lion is just a mountain lion from Nittany Mountain, which i learnt doing this concept. Anyway here it is.

Arkansas Razorbacks Rebrand

So I loved doing my Florida State concept so much, I wanted to try my hand on another college team rebrand.On this design message board, I started a contest for college logo rebrands, so I didn't have to do all the teams I wanted to redo myself! 

So the logo above is a redraw and modernization of the razorback logo. I tried to make the lines and outlines consistent with the shape of the pig. I tried to make it look fiercer, and I feel like It did.

Below are the alternate logos, and scripts. The script was suppose to be sharp looking, and have the effect of a razorback, hence the marks. The baseball team uses an A logo, that is similar to the Braves' A, so I made it the A from the script for consistency. The last alt is a state logo, because the Razorbacks ARE Arkansas. They represent the whole state when they play.

So those are the logos! I have to do a uniform concept also, so I'll get that done sometime and post it, when I'm not busy!

Final FSU Concept

Done! Click my portfolio in the sidebar to see it all. But this is my finished version of a project I really wanted to finish, and I'm really happy how it turned out!

Florida State alternate logos

Here is some other logos.

Still working on the face, I'm working on the bacon face, and trying to make the face paint not look thrown together. Here are two alternate logos, and a script while I'm working. I'm going to make the feather on the Osceola logo match the one on the spear. I used some spear logos, the two official logos, and the nike spear. I wanted to update the logo from the link below, and thought of doing this with a state outline.

Two things I'm considering keeping as is, just as a personal opinion.

• the colors
• rotation

I seriously hate the way the football uniforms look. Personally the gold pants looks like watered down champagne, and I'm pretty sure they don't match the helmets. If I get in, the in the top 3 things to do is order this shirt. I love the colors. I wanted to originally use the Predators gold, but figured gold was too set in the history of the school, and the colors would be similar to the Gophers. I lightened it, and sort of made it into a "honey mustard" color. I like how it looks on the logos, but might change it when I do work on the football uniform, to make it a little more gold.

And I'm still leaning for the downward turned head. I see it as charging into battle, instead of looking up to the skies. Not sure, that's how I look at it.

What I've been up to!

So if you didn't know yet, I'm a senior in high school. The place I want to go to is Florida State, too bad I hate their current set. I would suck it up for a good education, but c'mon! Chief Osceola is pretty bad if you look at it. Since about Thanksgiving, I've been working on this logo. 

 I think an update is something they should look into, so I can buy many things with the logo on it. Personally, I think the Nike logos they made are better. So I envisioned a logo, which will be an alternate, and wanted to do a rebrand. I chose the current garnet, black, and a color halfway between Vegas gold, and Predator yellow. They have many different colors, and I wanted one set scheme. The logo I was most pleased with was Chief Osceola. He needed a facelift, because the current is just cluttered. I gave it facial features, like a jaw line, and nostrils. Anything to make it more person like. The feather is an actual feather too. I tilted the head down on my first update to make it seem as if he's charging in an ambush, or something less racist.

 So I'm still working, but I wanted more than one post this month.

Pro Combat 2011: Stanford

Last one. Stanford's logos don't have black. So I'm not sure why Nike wants it to be.

Red and green. Complimentary colors. I did a two stripe sleeve stripe, and to add some more, piping and having the sleeves a darker red. The numbers have little trees in them for effect. Lastly, the pants match the sleeves.



Take notes, Nike.

Pro Combat 2011: Oregon

Oregon's pro combats were a dark version of the National Championship game set. YAWN.

If you want to do volt, and black. Do something cool. Like me. I put more volt than the number outlines. The duck wings aren't a glossy deal, and the sleeves have the gradient pattern. The pants are a dark grey, and the numbers and helmet are a dark steel pastern. i forget what Nike calls it, but it's not just one color.

Pro Combat 2011: Ohio State

Am I the only one that hates Ohio State's uniforms? The helmets are shiny, the sleeve stripes are weird, and the pants are matte. No wonder I root for Michigan when they're head to head.

I wanted to do a modern twist. I added piping that ran around the sleeves and had a stripe that hasn't been done before. I made the shells and pants be matte, and gave the numbers two outlines. I tried to remain consistent with the striping on the sleeve pants, and socks too.

Pro Combat 2011: Navy

I did this before the actual ones were released, but they actually came out VERY similar.

What I went for was to look like an actual navy officer uniform. I gave them monochrome navy, a white helmet, and yellow stripes near the ends of the sleeves. I didn't want the goat logo on here, just because of how sloppy it is. I tried having a balance between white and yellow to keep it looking sharp, and I feel like it turned out like what I was going for.

Pro Combat 2011: Michigan State

I wanted to have a spartan motif as much as I could. I decided on a cape design over the top, like the old Steelers jersey. Near the cuffs, I put a design like San Jose State, you know. The number and script is custom, and I can show a big version of the script if anyone wants to, but here it is.


Next Pro Combat: Navy

Pro Combat 2011: LSU

I was looking at images for throwback, and some stuff from the 1959 team that was undefeated. The helmets had numbers, similar to the Eagles, with some modifications, I think I matched it. The jerseys are the same as the current, so I added gold for the typical nike throwback look. The old set had block numbers, but I matched the helmet font. You could say it was a "Feauxback"


Next Pro Combat: Michigan State

Pro Combat 2011: Georgia

I wanted to make atleast one of their sets consistent. By that, I mean the pattern I've come to use for almost every concept the Helmet/jersey/pants alternate colors 1/2/1. The primaries are red/red/silver. One thing Nike has done was use a granite color. I thought that this team would look pretty good using this. As far as the design, I did what looks good to me, and made it Pro Combat-esqe


Next Pro Combat: LSU

Pro Combat 2011: Boise State

The template I made has a default gradient sleeve pattern. I was playing around, and came up with this. I went for a Michigan State-like jersey pattern to continue the blue from the sleeve. The numbers match the sleeves, and so does the helmet, and pants stripe. Basically, I wanted more blue and orange, and did it.


Next Pro Combat: Georgia

Pro Combat 2011: Army

This will probably be close to what they're gonna do. I'm predicting a white version of their digital camo jersey, but I did something different. The camo now has a gold hue, like the current road set. Other than that, it's pretty simple with camo on the helmet, pants, sleeves, and numbers. I tried to do some Nike-type stuff with other design.


Next Pro Combat- Boise State